Nearly 200 students from 13 schools in central Alabama competed in 23 categories to take home medals and bragging rights in the Science Olympiad Saturday at UAB. The two top teams will go up against regional winners later in the year during the state competition. Charlotte Mae Kent and Meredith Hubbard, both of Birmingham, and Evan Colmenares of Huntsville served as olympiad directors. They secured funding and grants from Alabama Power, Vulcan Materials and the Alabama Section of the American Chemical Society. They found student volunteers to help with registration, information and judging. They also set up a scholarship to help schools without an olympiad team start one. "All of our volunteers are passionate about science," Kent said. "This is a great recruitment tool for UAB."

In Sacramento's various whole food and natural food markets, could "forbidden rice," also known as "black rice" and/or "Chinese black rice" possibly be replacing blueberries as the supreme superfood for a fraction of the price and deliver more health benefits? The idea that nationally, black rice might be replacing blueberries nationally as "the superfood" was announced by some researchers at American Chemical Society's (ACS) annual fall meeting, according to an American Chemical Society September 7, 2010 press release. Regardless of whether you ferment your grains for health and to remove some of the phytic acid or not, this year the idea of super green rice and black rice are coming to the forefront of the media. And in some Sacramento vegan restaurants, black rice is on the menu.

Plants seem to tolerate the high radiation levels found in the soil near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. Both soybeans and flax showed changes in their proteins, but not enough to stop them from thriving in the soil contaminated by the 1986 disaster. Martin Hajduch of the Slovak Academy of Science and his colleagues found that only five percent of the flax seeds' proteins were altered. The proteins involved were related to cell signaling, or the system cells use to communicate with each other. Exactly what allows the plants to thrive in the nuked soil is still unclear. The research was published in the American Chemical Society's journal, Environmental Science and Technology. Birds haven't been so lucky. Recent research showed that birds living in the Chernobyl area have significantly smaller brains than normal.

Cocaine is destroying lives and tearing homes apart—and not simply because of drug use. Farming coca, the plant used to make cocaine, has been linked to rising deforestation rates in Colombian rain forests, a new study says. What's more, ecologist Liliana M. Dávalos and colleagues have for the first time quantified indirect deforestation tied to coca farming, such as clearing land for growing food crops near coca plantations. "In southern Colombia we found geographically that there is just more probability of losing the forest close to [coca cultivation]," said Dávalos, of the State University of New York in Stony Brook. "And the more coca around you, the more forest you're likely to lose—the sheer amount of coca in the vicinity has an effect." The new study, published January 11 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, charted the pace of Colombian deforestation from 2002 to 2007 using satellite land-cover maps created specifically to monitor illicit crop growth.

Until recently, humans took the blame for unusually high levels of estrogen-like chemicals in rivers, lakes and streams. Some thought it was birth control pills but other evidence pointed to agricultural wastes. But, new research suggests a form of algae may be contributing to the problem, which can cause males of some fish, amphibians, and reptiles change behaviors and even develop female physical characteristics. Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, caused responses in zebrafish similar to those caused by estrogen-like chemicals, the results of the study were published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. The researchers found that young fish exposed to blue-green algae showed a chemical marker known to result from estrogen exposure. The marker didn't show up when the fish were only exposed to the known toxin that the blue-green algae produce. So the scientists think there must be a previously-unknown chemical released by the algae that caused the estrogen-like effects. That means that algae blooms, or sudden large bursts of algae growth, could have even greater health consequences for animals

In the second part of our special focus on heart health, NutraIngredients examines the science that backs up the health benefits of ‘the big four’ cholesterol reducing ingredients: phytosterols, omega-3s, beta-glucan, and soy protein... The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) heart health claim for soy protein established in 1999 states that "25 grams of soy protein a day, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease." Currently, 11 other countries have approved health claims for soy protein's potential to lower blood cholesterol and lower the risk of coronary heart disease. However, recently the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued a negative opinion to a health claim submission linking soy protein and reduced cholesterol – stating that there was not enough evidence of causation to approve a claim in Europe. A 2008 study suggested that the cholesterol-lowering effects of soy protein may by located in the liver. The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, reported that soybean protein was found to stimulate the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R) transcription in liver cells.

London’s Olympic Village in June 2008 was but a skeleton outline, marked by scant concrete pilings. Yet, by the time the opening ceremonies kick off in the summer of 2012, state-of-the-art educational facilities, health care clinics, day care centers and health clubs will be dotted across nearly 25 acres of new parks and open courtyards... A new idea, proposed by University of Lancaster researchers Athanasios Katsoyiannis and Kevin Jones, suggests that that the new sewer and wastewater pumping station, nice as they may be, may hold a grand opportunity. Instead of simply shuttling waste, they could also be used to blow the whistle on those athletes tainting their feats with performance-enhancing drugs, aka PEDs. In a new viewpoint paper published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, Katsoyiannis and Jones cite rigorous examples where researchershave monitored illicit drug use by chemically analyzing wastewater, accurately and reproducibly. Building off this knowledge — and realizing that athletes are getting consistently better at cheating the system when it comes time for drug testing prior to competition — the research team believes that Olympic officials might be better served by passively monitoring the wastewater that flows from the toilets in the Olympic Village.

An Academia Sinica research team has explained the biochemical mechanism behind a kind of eye drop containing pirenoxine (PRX) that has been used for decades to treat cataracts. “Our findings, which offer new scientific evidence for the use of PRX to treat cataracts, will serve as reference for future biological research,” said Wu Shih-hsiung, a distinguished research fellow and deputy director of Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biological Chemistry, Feb. 16. In the study, the team showed how PRX binds to calcium and selenite in the lens of the eye, thereby effectively reducing the opacity seen in the cataract. Unusually high levels of calcium are known to lead to the loss of transparency in the cortex of the lens, while selenite has been linked to lens opacity in previous scientific studies, according to the team. Their research was published in the online edition of the American Chemical Society journal Inorganic Chemistry Dec. 7, 2010.

Two University of Notre Dame researchers are included in a new ranking of the top chemists of the past decade. Joan F. Brennecke, Keating-Crawford Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and director of the Notre Dame Sustainable Energy Imitative, and Prashant Kamat, Rev. John A. Zahm Professor of Science in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Radiation Lab and concurrent professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, are on a list of the 100 top chemists published by the Times Higher Education group. The list is intended to celebrate the achievements of 100 chemists who achieved the highest citation impact scores for chemistry papers (articles and reviews) published since January 2000... A member of AIChE, ACS and the American Society for Engineering Education, Brennecke is past chair of the Council for Chemical Research and currently serves on the editorial board of the journal Green Chemistry... Kamat serves as executive editor of the Journal of Physical Chemistry A/B/C, a leading publication of the American Chemical Society. He is a member of the advisory board of the scientific journals Langmuir, Research on Chemical Intermediates, Interface, Electrochemical and Solid State Letters and International Journal of Photoenergy.

Scientists have identified why the bright yellows in some of Vincent van Gogh's paintings have turned brown. A complex chemical reaction is behind the deterioration of the works. The finding is a first step to understanding how to stop some of the Dutch master's most famous paintings from fading over time. The results, published in the journal Analytical Chemistry, suggest shielding the affected paintings as much as possible from UV and sunlight. Sunlight can penetrate only a few micrometres into the paint, but over this short distance, the researchers found it could trigger a hitherto unknown chemical reaction turning chrome yellow into brown pigments, altering the original composition. The scientists employed a microscopic X-ray beam to reveal a complex chemical reaction taking place in the incredibly thin layer where the paint meets the varnish.

Q. How much nutritional loss is there from underripe fruit? A. There is a significant change in nutritional value as a fruit or vegetable ripens, but ripeness may not be the major factor in nutrition, said Jennifer Wilkins of the division of nutritional sciences of the Cornell University College of Human Ecology. The change in value varies with factors like variety and post-harvest handling, she said. For example, a 2004 study of blackberries in The Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry found that the level of anthocyanin pigments, which may have antioxidant benefits, increased more than fourfold as Marion blackberries went from underripe to overripe (to 317 milligrams per 100 grams, from 74.7 milligrams); for another variety, Evergreen, they rose a bit more than twofold (to 164 milligrams from 69.9). While antioxidant activities also increased with ripening, they did not show such a significant change. And another nutrient class, phenolics, actually decreased slightly.

Vegans have the edge when it comes to heart disease. Research shows that those who shun all animal products are likely to have lower blood cholesterol levels and less hypertension. Vegan diets are also higher in phytochemicals and nutrients that may reduce heart disease risk. A recent paper from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China looked at several factors in plant-based diets that affect heart disease. And while most media sources got the conclusions wrong, the paper stated clearly that vegans have a “generally low risk of cardiovascular disease.” But there is room for improvement in any diet, and the analysis, published in theJournal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, suggested that vegans who have low intakes of vitamin B12 and possibly omega-3 fats could lose out on the benefits of healthful plant-based eating. Inadequate B12 is associated with elevated levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that is linked to increased heart disease.

Health news to keep in mind as a particularly cold winter wends on: Crackling logs in a fireplace might warm the heart and the toes. A toasty fire might even be good for the soul. But a new study in Chemical Research in Toxicology, a journal of the American Chemical Society, reminds readers that wood smoke is not particularly good for human bodies. Danish researchers showed that tiny particles from wood smoke damaged the DNA in human cells in culture. Another study, published Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that smoke from burning heating coal has negative health effects as well. Three-year-olds in the Czech Republic living in homes that used coal as fuel for cooking and/or heating were 1.3 centimeters shorter, on average, than peers in homes that used other fuels, the study found. Wood burning was not associated with shorter stature. About half of the world's households use solid fuels such as wood and coal for indoor heating and cooking, the paper reported -- noting that the products of coal consumption are similar to those in cigarette smoke.

Inspired by hollow spaghetti called bucatini, researchers in Italy have developed implants that help spinal cords regrow. Rats with spinal cord injuries recovered mobility in their hind legs, raising hope that the approach might one day help people with paraplegia. The "bucatini project" is one of several around the world pioneering biodegradable scaffolds to bridge spinal cord injuries. Along with scar tissue, one of the main barriers to healing is the development of fluid-filled cysts at the site of the injury over the ensuing months. The idea of the implants is to create tiny conduits to guide formation of new nerve fibres, or axons, across this fluid-filled space. "These tubes provide the reference points for the cells, and tissue starts to build up," says Angelo Vescovi of the University of Milan-Bicocca... Vescovi and Gelain found that new nerve fibres had grown all the way through many of the microscopic channels. Some had also grown between the tubes, together with all the other types of supporting cells that nerves need for survival. New blood vessels had also grown, providing a blood supply (ACS Nano)

Small holiday LED bulbs, marketed as eco-friendly alternatives to traditional light bulbs, contain lead, arsenic and a dozen other potentially hazardous substances, reports a study released Thursday. The low-intensity red LEDs (light emitting diodes) in Christmas lighting strands had up to eight times the amount of lead allowed under California law, and while the white bulbs had less lead than the colored ones, they had high levels of nickel, according to a team of researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and the University of California, Davis. "I didn't expect this full range of chemicals to leach out," said study co-author Oladele Ogunseitan, chairman, of UC Irvine's Department of Population Health & Disease Prevention. He said the research, published in the January 2011 issue of Environmental Science & Technology, is the first to examine LEDs for toxic chemicals.